Tabasco, speaking for himself, said that the difference in budgets could correlate to an inequality.
“It’s tough to tell a freshman…that Houses are treated equally when Houses don't have equal funds to work with,” Tabasco said. “Why would anyone want a House that doesn't have as much money to work with when they want to do House events?”
Mayopoulos, however, argued that though the disparity in House committees’ revenues is apparent, it does not necessarily reflect a larger problem.
“There is nothing inherently wrong with one HoCo having more revenue than another HoCo,” Mayopoulos said. He added that it was still “too early” to render judgments about the effect budget revenue differences may have on broader inequalities in the housing system.
Eliot House Committee chairs Megan B. Prasad ’15 and Tommy Chen ’15, for their parts, point to differing marketing strategies used by Houses to spur sales for events and merchandise as the main source of the disparity in some budgets.
They said their advertising and event planning lead to increased ticket sales, which in turn allows their House committee to spend more money on events like Eliot Fete. The House’s HoCo budget, like that of all other HoCo’s, does not include any endowment funds.
UC funding for House committees does not depend on size.
—Staff writer Noah J. Delwiche can be reached at noah.delwiche@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @ndelwiche.
This article has been revised to reflect the following corrections
CORRECTION: October 9, 2014
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated how much Kirkland House expects to raise in ticket sales for its spring formal. In fact, the House expects to bring in around $7,000 for the event, which is forecasted to cost $21,000.